Global Combat Ship - Australia

The Type 26 Global Combat Ship will be a world-class anti-submarine warfare ship. Globally deployable, the flexible mission bay, aviation facilities and combat systems ensure it will be capable of undertaking a wide range of roles from high intensity warfare to humanitarian assistance, either operating independently or as part of a task group.

The Global Combat Ship - Australia is an evolution of the UK’s Type 26 Frigate which is currently in production in the UK. This is the world’s first and only bow-to-stern digitally designed Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) warship. It offers technologically superior ASW capability with the flexibility to undertake the full range of maritime operations.

All variants will share a common acoustically quiet hull and will take full advantage of modular design and open systems architecture to facilitate through-life support and upgrades as new technology develops. This will ensure the Global Combat Ship remains relevant to future maritime demands and delivers an adaptable design with the ability to accommodate sub-systems to meet individual country needs.

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Australia's digital shipyard

For SEA 5000 BAE Systems will transfer to Australia $1.5b worth of IP and technical data. This is just one part of our commitment to developing a sovereign continuous naval shipbuilding industry Australia can be proud of.

Type 26 visualisation suite

The GCS design is more mature than any previous UK ship at this point in its build since the design is fully digital, and has made extensive use of 3D visualisation, prototyping and new manufacturing techniques.

Type 26 digital ship

Bow to Stern (BTS) digital design has been used to identify build risks at all stages from steel cutting to final installation of sensitive electronics, adjusting designs in real-time to remove or reduce build risks.